Theoretical Investigation of a New Physical Method for Fat Removal by Melting: A Case Study of Caprate Triglyceride

Obesity is the most common unhealthy characteristic; it not only makes people feel troubled about their appearance but also causes many diseases that threaten people's health and lives. Liposuction is a widely promoted plastic surgery technique for removing excess fat from people with obesity. Typically, liposuction involves the application of vibration to break fat cells and, thus, can cause harm to the body. This paper describes a theoretical proposal for the use of a selected-frequency terahertz laser as a new physical approach for quickly removing fat by melting. Tricaprin, a medium-chain triglyceride, was examined in a case study that involved first-principles density functional theory calculations, together with infrared absorption and Raman scattering experiments. The vibrational mode of the highest infrared absorption peak of tricaprin (1763 cm^-1 (simulation), 1735 cm^-1 (experiment)) was found to represent a carbonyl group (C=O) stretching vibration. Due to the high electronegativity of oxygen, this C=O bond is strongly correlated with intermolecular hydrogen bonding. Thus, it efficiently absorbs energy, enabling a rapid breakdown of the solid structure of tricaprin. This process could potentially be applied as a weight-loss treatment, as tricaprin is present in triglycerides, which are the typical component of fat. In addition, this process could be used in medical physics applications such as for the treatment of arteriosclerosis.